Wetherspoon to open superpub and hotel in Dublin

British pub group JD Wetherspoon has announced a €15 million development of a “superpub” and 98-bedroom hotel in Dublin's city centre.

Works on the venue, a derelict stretch of Camden Street in the south-central Portobello district, will begin in February 2018, with the pub and hotel set to open in early 2019.

The development will be Wetherspoon's biggest single investment, resulting in its largest hotel and adding to its five existing pubs in the Irish republic – four in the capital and one in the southern city of Cork.

Founded in 1979 the chain operates around 1,000 outlets, mainly in the UK, and is known for its no-frills service and cheap alcohol prices.

Its arrival in Dublin in 2014 prompted protest from Dublin vintners who were concerned that the company's practice of selling low-cost English stout – not sold elsewhere in Ireland – would damage their drinks sales, dominated by Heineken and Diageo.

Three years later the company says its pubs in the Irish republic are "thriving" and that its Camden Street development will be a "great asset" to Dublin.